YY's Huya Game Unit Files for IPO on NYSE

Launched in 2014, Huya has grown rapidly over the past four years, reporting revenue last year of $335.8 million,

Huya Inc., the largest game live-streaming platform in China, filed today for a $200 million initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HUYA."

The planned IPO, which had been expected, would partially spin off one of the major holdings of YY Inc. (Nasdaq: YY), which owns 48.3 percent of Huya's shares, representing 55.5 percent voting control of the company. Tencent Holdings Ltd. is Huya's second-largest shareholder with 34.6 percent of the shares for a voting stake of 39.8 percent.

The specific number of shares to be sold, the price per share, and the expected date of issuance were not included in this initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which has both Class A and super-voting Class B shares, said it would issue Class A shares to the public.

Launched in 2014, Huya has grown rapidly over the past four years. The Guangzhou-based company reported revenue last year of $335.8 million, nearly three times the amount collected in 2016. Its loss attributable to shareholders as $15.5 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with a loss of $96.3 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.

At year-end, the company said it had over 38.8 million mobile monthly average users (MAUs, an increase of 47.6 percent from the same period of 2016. In all, the company offered 2,600 different games, including mobile, PC and console games by the end of last year.

Huya's growth comes as the company is riding a surging interest among young people in China for internet gaming. Citing a study from Frost & Sullivan, the company said the country had 646 million gamers last year, and is expected to grow to 917 million gamers in 2022. Overall, revenue in the game live-streaming market is expected to hit $4.9 billion in 2022, up from $1.2 billion last year.

In the SEC filing, Huya said it had recently signed a four-year non-compete agreement with YY, and a three-year strategic cooperation deal with Tencent, which is renewable under certain conditions.